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Our librarian Courtney wrote a review of the card game Dixit!

I am a decidedly un-strategic tabletop game player. I’ve been known to choose my moves based on how fun they seem, or how much of a chain reaction I can cause, or (quite frequently) because the art on that particular card is interesting. Dixit is a game designed for people who revel in cards with interesting art on them. There are several flavors and versions of Dixit, but all of them come with a deck of large cards, each depicting a surreal, beautiful and perplexing story of its own. 

In Dixit, players take turns playing the part of storyteller by choosing a card from their hand and telling a short story about it. The story can be just a couple words, a pop culture quote, song lyrics, or a lush and descriptive paragraph of prose. The goal is to tell a story that’s specific enough that some people will know which card it describes, but enigmatic enough that some of the other players will guess incorrectly. 

After you choose your card and tell your story, the other players choose a card from their hand that they think also fits the story you’ve told. All the cards are shuffled together, and the players (except the storyteller) vote on which is the most likely to be the card chosen by the storyteller. If everyone or nobody guesses correctly, the storyteller gets no points. If some people guess correctly, both the storyteller and the other players whose cards were chosen receive points for that round. 

I could probably spend an enjoyable half-hour just looking through a deck of Dixit cards. But I also love this game because it uses a creative part of my brain that I don’t get to employ in a lot of other games. It’s best with a large number of people (it can accommodate three to eight players, and I’d say it’s best at four or more), so it’s a go-to choice for me when my family gets together. Dixit is a fun, interactive and casual game that anyone can play, as long as they can make up a story.

If you'd like to learn and play games like this, join us at an upcoming Tabletop Games event! Details and dates here. 

Our librarians will be featuring Dixit! at the upcoming Tabletop Games event at Gardner Library on March 7!

Come play some games with us, friends and family!

Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like

Your doorway into live and archived programs. Arts & Culture, Career & Finance, Community Matters, Writers and more!

READ to a Dog with Pets for Life –

Monday, Feb. 6, 3:30 – 5 p.m. – at the Leawood Pioneer Library.

Tuesday, Feb. 7, 3:30 – 5 p.m. – at the Antioch Library.

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 3:30 – 5 p.m. – at the Central Resource Library.

Thursday, Feb. 9, 3:30 – 5 p.m. – at the Monticello Library.

The Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.) program improves children’s reading and communication skills by employing a powerful method: reading to a registered therapy dog or cat! These animals volunteer with their owner/handlers as a team. Please note that space is limited for this program; kids will get a ticket at arrival and wait their turn to read to one of several dogs.

Tabletop Games – Tuesday, Feb. 7, 6 – 7:45 p.m.

Join us for a fun-filled evening at the Gardner Library with family members and friends, old and new, and become a part of the Johnson County tabletop gaming community. Kids, teens and adults can enjoy a variety of games together, including collaborating to escape the Forbidden Island, getting creative with a round of Dixit, or strategizing their way to victory as King of Tokyo! Discover and learn new games from our collection or bring your personal favorite to share. Come and go as you please. Refreshments are provided. This month, our gaming librarians will feature a family-friendly game, “Apples to Apples, Jr.” and teach you how to play it!

Legislative Coffee – Saturday, Feb. 11, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Discover what’s percolating in the Kansas Legislature. Representatives and Senators with constituents in Johnson County will discuss the new legislative session, followed by Q&A. You bring the questions; we provide the coffee and doughnuts. Registration is not required to attend in-person at the Blue Valley Library. Register to attend virtually via YouTube.

Attendees will include:

• Senator Cindy Holscher, District 8
• Representative Dan Osman, District 48
• Representative Heather Meyer, District 29

Tween Book Club – Saturday, Feb. 11, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

If you’re age 9-13 and enjoy reading, this program is for you! Let’s get together at the Leawood Pioneer Library to read new books, discuss ideas and characters, and meet other book lovers. We read a different book each session and the February title is “The Magical Imperfect” by Chris Baron and staff will lead the group in a discussion about the book. Participants can pick up the following month’s book at each book club discussion or at the Youth Services desk after each book club discussion while supplies last.

And much more happening this week …

Johnson County Library strives to provide materials and activities that will be particularly appealing to teen patrons. Its Young Adult Literary Councils are a major part of that outreach. They are an excellent way for patrons ages 12-19 to share favorite books and help plan fun events such as author visits and game days. Participants meet other Johnson County teens and receive volunteer credit hours for their time. They can even pick up advanced copies of teen books to read and review before publication, for the Young Adult Library Services Association.

During the pandemic, an online system-wide Young Adult Literary Council kept some teens engaged and involved. But in 2023, the councils resume meeting in-person at Lenexa City Center, Blue Valley, Monticello and Gardner. Staffers are eager to welcome them back.

For Gardner Youth Information Specialist Matt Imrie and for Monticello Youth Information Specialist Jordan Young, this is an ideal chance to involve young patrons in the life of the Library, lending their energy, creativity and enthusiasm. It’s mutually beneficial for the teens and the Library system. “It’s to keep young people engaged in the Library and to give them a sense of ownership. It gets them involved in planning events for the Library, for the groups themselves and other people that might be interested,” Imrie said. “I’ve found through past experience that young people, if it’s something that’s theirs, they are more interested.”

Young agreed. “I’m really excited to start this opportunity again,” he said. “We have a great group of teens at Monticello and we have lots of fun ideas for what the program can be. I’m excited to see what they come up with.” Both Imrie and Young bring valuable prior experience working with teens and have a passion for this project. 

Imrie’s Library career extends back more than 25 years, including stints from South Africa to the United Kingdom, and much of that work involved teens. Since 2006, he has run his own blog website focused on Libraries and teens, with all sorts of book lists and reader interaction. He has been a youth information specialist at Gardner for about four years, establishing positive relationships with many families. He has spoken to a number of patrons about YALC, including some home-school parents, and interest is spreading.

Gardner’s YALC will meet the third Saturday of each month, from 2-3 p.m., through April. Reservations aren’t necessary and participants can just show up.

Young has theater experience and was very involved in running teen programming years ago at the Yorba Linda Public Library in California. He was hired as a Johnson County Library clerk in 2018 and helped open the Lenexa branch. He became a youth information specialist at Monticello in November 2020 and discovered that branch has a very strong teen patron base. They attend nearby schools and flock to the Library after school. They fill the study rooms and are avid readers. Young helped Monticello resume its in-person teen volunteer program, which went really well in summer 2022. He also worked with the online YALC, in which teen participants planned a game/book celebration event at Blue Valley Library that attracted over 100 attendees in 2022.

Monticello’s YALC will meet the fourth Wednesday of each month, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., through April. Young will run it with help from Jeni Cosgrove. Lenexa’s YALC will meet the second Tuesday of each month, 5-6 p.m. Blue Valley’s will meet the third Sunday of each month, 1-2 p.m.

Young praises Johnson County Library for providing teens this opportunity, “giving them a place to be, giving them leadership experience, and helping them engage with the community.”

It’s another grand Throwback Thursday when we encourage you to time travel through Johnson County's history. JoCoHistory is a collaborative presentation of the history from the Johnson County Museum, Johnson County Library and many JoCoHistory partners. Explore historical photographs and documents about the people, places and organizations of Johnson County, Kansas, from the 19th century to the present.

Collection spotlight: Johnson County Archives

About this collection: Largely images from annual reports produced by Johnson County staff over the first half of the twentieth century, most notably the County Agricultural Agent and the Home Demonstration Agent. Numerous activities of those two offices are depicted, including programs with area farmers, homemakers and 4-H clubs.

Our librarian Charles wrote a review of the card game Sushi Go!

"Sushi Go!" is a fast paced card game with adorably cute artwork that is sure to satisfy your gaming appetite. As is typical of the entire range of games by producer Gamewright Games, this is an easy to learn family game. Despite that, the strategic depth lends "Sushi Go!" a high replay value, and this game strikes a balance that makes it enjoyable for players of all skill levels. 

The main mechanic of the game is a style of point gathering known as drafting. In this version, each player is dealt a hand of cards, each with different types of sushi depicted on them. Each player selects a card out of the hand to keep for that round, and passes the rest of their cards to a player sitting next to them. This selection, or "drafting" of cards allows players not only a choice of what card will earn them the most points at the time, but also may give them the chance to pick something that only moderately benefits them but blocks their opponents from completing a set they have been working on. That push and pull between taking cards that purely benefit yourself and the ability to shape what options are left to the other players is the true heart of the game to me, and I find it delicious. 

The game plays for three rounds, but I find it rare that a game of "Sushi Go!" wraps up in just one playthrough. As players get more used to the scoring of the different types of sushi, their eyes light up with plans for how they might have played the cards differently, and the common refrain "Okay, shuffle it up and lets do this again!" is often the result. If this review whets your appetite, check the game out at the next Tabletop Gaming night at your local library!

If you'd like to learn and play games like this, join us at an upcoming Tabletop Games event! Details and dates here.

Come play some games with us, friends and family!

Library OnDemand – Available anytime you like

Your doorway into live and archived programs. Arts & Culture, Career & Finance, Community Matters, Writers and more!

One-on-One Genealogy Help – Tuesday, Jan. 31, 9 a.m. – noon

For One-on-One or DNA and Genetic help, visit the Johnson County Genealogical Society at www.jcgsks.org to schedule an appointment. A volunteer will contact you by email to set up an in-person at Central Resource Library or a Zoom session link for you prior to the scheduled date.

Careers Begin Here: Workforce Partnership – Tuesday, Jan. 31, 7 – 8 p.m.  Online Event

Learn about career exploration tools and resources, as well as technical training opportunities in high-demand career fields available through Workforce Partnership. Erich Ulmer, Project Director, will provide an overview of available services.

Tabletop Games – Wednesday, Feb. 1, 6 – 7:45 p.m.

Join us at Blue Valley Library for a fun-filled evening with family members and friends, old and new, and become a part of the Johnson County tabletop gaming community. Kids, teens and adults can enjoy a variety of games together, including collaborating to escape the Forbidden Island, getting creative with a round of Dixit, or strategizing their way to victory as King of Tokyo! Discover and learn new games from our collection or bring your personal favorite to share. Come and go as you please. Refreshments are provided. Each month, our gaming librarians will feature a family-friendly game and teach you how to play it. Blue Valley's featured game for February is Sushi Go!

Matt Stewart on Writing Dialogue – Wednesday, Feb. 1, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Learn to write meaningful dialogue that flows throughout your story. Emmy-award winning news reporter Matt Stewart discusses the best ways to get your characters to talk. Stewart graduated from the top-ranked journalism school in the country and has spent 25 years interviewing people from all walks of life. He will share what he's learned in the classroom and in the field to help your dialogue snap so you can take your book to the next level.

Matt Stewart: Writing Dialogue Workshop – Saturday, Feb. 4, 9 – 11 a.m.

Spend a morning elevating the dialogue in your manuscript as Fox 4 News reporter Matt Stewart helps you clean it up to make it even better. If your characters don't speak with purpose, you risk your readers losing interest. Stewart will take his knowledge as both an author and television broadcaster and offer tips and advice to give your characters character and help make your book even better.

And much more happening this week …

Our librarian Charles wrote a review of the board game King of Tokyo!

In this game for 2-6 players, monstrous, robotic, and alien kaiju (think Godzilla) battle to be the last one standing. A fast-paced and easy to learn dice rolling mechanic fuels this family friendly brawl, and with a little help, even early readers can enjoy a taste of glory when they become the King of Tokyo. 

Players can win the game in one of two ways. The first is to be the first monster to accumulate 20 victory points. These points can be earned by occupying Tokyo City or rolling matching number sets with the dice. The other way to win is by being the last monster left alive, with each monster starting at 10 health and dealing damage by rolling the Smash symbol on the dice. Upgrades can be purchased throughout the game to enhance either strategy, but really, what self-respecting monster is going to try to win with points instead of their claws? 

The dice mechanic will feel familiar to people who have played the classic game Yahtzee. Each turn, players roll 6 dice, set aside what they would like to keep, and reroll the remaining dice. They can roll 3 times total on each of their turns, then they read the symbols to resolve the effects of their turn. Once you have learned the 6 potential results on each die, the game is simple enough that I have been playing with my son since he was 4, and it is our go-to game for the family.  

The cartoonish art style lends a lighthearted air to what is otherwise a game largely about combat, and the special powers add a unique element that you will see more of each time you play. For fast fun and its high replayability value, King of Tokyo is a game I recommend checking out next time you play.  

If you'd like to learn and play games like this, join us at an upcoming Tabletop Games event! Details and dates here.

Our librarians will be featuring King of Tokyo at the following Table Top Games events at Blue Valley on April 5!

Come play some games with us, friends and family!